58 ROMANCE OF THE BEAVER 
and not indulging sufficiently in romance. The 
popular notion that the beaver knows exactly in 
which direction a tree will fall is not borne out by 
fact, and I feel sure, after having made a careful 
study of the subject, that the direction is purely a 
matter of chance. It is quite true that most trees 
growing near the water fall towards it, but this is 
not due in any way to the wishes or skill of the 
animal, but to the obvious fact that trees grow 
towards light. The water, being an open space, 
attracts them ; therefore when cut it is only natural 
that they should fall the way they are inclined. 
Another common fallacy is that the beaver never 
makes mistakes in tree cutting. Quite a large 
proportion of the trees they cut lodge in the 
branches of their neighbours. When this happens 
they are usually abandoned without further effort, 
but sometimes we see cases which prove the per- 
sistence of the little woodsmen. Not only will 
they cut through the trunk a second time, but even 
a third or fourth time, in the hopes of attaining 
their object. The photograph shows a good 
example of this. The tree, a birch, ten inches 
in diameter at the stump, was cut through twice 
without bringing it down. A third attempt was 
made, but not quite completed at the time that the 
photograph was taken. It is not to be wondered 
_ at that the little creatures should make such mis- 
takes, considering the fact that their eyesight is only 
fairly good, and that as they work almost entirely 
